Ginza Kaiwai

Yoshikazu Suzuki & Shohachi Kimura
Ginza Kaiwai

Photographs: Yoshikazu Suzuki

Text: Shohachi Kimura

Publisher: Toho Shobo

Year: 1954

Comments: Hardcover leporello and hardcover book in a slipcase, all in a cardboard box, 18,8 x 17,5 cm. In very good condition.

Ginza Kaiwai/Ginza Haccho has been the topic of much discussion amongst photography book aficionados in recent years. Consisting of two separate booklets housed in a cardboard box, it is essentially a historical publication about the history of Tokyo's Ginza district. However, it is the books leporello which is of particular interest, presenting a panoramic view of Ginza, one side of the street running along the top of the leporello, the other on the bottom. This of course bears a remarkable resemblance to Ed Ruscha's seminal artist book Every Building on Sunset Strip, produced twelve years later in 1967, thus raising the question of whether Ruscha has seen and been influenced by this vernacular publication.